An Environmental Disaster in the Western Ghats

Описание: Sharavathi Pumped Storage Project

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The proposed Sharavathi Valley Pumped Storage Project (PSP) in Karnataka’s Western Ghats seeks to generate 2,000 MW of peak power by cycling water between reservoirs. Positioned as a solution for renewable energy integration, the project would require clearing over 400 acres of pristine evergreen forest within protected wildlife sanctuaries,

threatening endangered species like the Lion-Tailed Macaque and other vulnerable species such as the Malabar Pied Hornbill and King Cobra. Experts from IISc have called it an “illogical doomsday path,” highlighting irreversible biodiversity loss, fragmentation, and risks of landslides in this ecologically fragile and rainfall-prone terrain.

The talk will critically examine the project’s environmental governance, including contradictions in presenting pumped storage as a climate solution. It will also scrutinise the government’s Environmental Impact Assessment, which underpins approvals despite evidence of ecological harm and violations of forest and wildlife laws. Financial analyses further indicate that the project’s societal costs may exceed its benefits.

In this session Nirmala Gowda And Shankar Sharma will reflect on whether projects like the Sharavathi PSP genuinely advance energy security, or compromise it by eroding biodiversity, climate resilience, and community welfare. This will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience.